19 June 2012

Prices of non-landed suburban private
homes have outperformed those in the city over the last five years, a new
report has found.

Across the board, private home prices
have soared more than 50 per cent over the five years.

But not all segments have been buoyed
equally by this price jump.

City centre homes have fared the
worst, with many posh homes struggling to match robust gains posted by homes on
the city fringe and in suburban areas.

Prices of non-landed homes in
suburban areas enjoyed price rises of 68 per cent on average. This was a
startling 30 percentage points more than city centre home price rises of 38 per
cent, on average.

But other experts pointed out that if
a different period had been selected, the trend would have been reversed with
non-landed city centre homes posting some of the strongest price rises instead.

For instance, they enjoyed solid
price gains of about 69 per cent in the three-year period from the first
quarter of 2005 to the first quarter of 2008. Prices of city fringe homes
jumped 39 per cent while suburban homes trailed with a 38 per cent rise in the
same period.

Freehold residential development
Kemaman View has been sold to private developer Aylesbury Pte Ltd for $45.5
million, or some $935 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The 17,388 sq ft site, located off
Balestier Road, comprises 30 apartment units, each 1,324 sq ft in size. Located
in District 12, the plot is zoned for Residential Use under Master Plan 2008,
with a gross plot ratio of 2.8 and a maximum height of 36 stories subject to
approval.

Development charges for the plot are
not expected to be payable, unless the developer obtains approval for an
additional 10 per cent gross floor area (GFA) for balconies in addition to a
potential GFA of 53,813 sq ft. In this scenario, development charges are
estimated to amount to $2.8 million, resulting in a unit land price of $816 psf
ppr.

China's home values fell in a record
54 of 70 cities tracked by the government in May as developers cut prices to
boost sales amid housing curbs.

The eastern city of Wenzhou led
declines with a 14 per cent slump in values from a year earlier, while Beijing
and Shanghai recorded losses of as much as 1.6 per cent, according to data
released by the statistics bureau Monday.

Monday's data compares with April,
when 46 cities posted declines in new home prices.

Among the major cities, Shanghai and
Guangzhou both retreated 1.6 per cent in May, while Shenzhen decreased by 2.3
per cent from a year earlier.